Video: Updating an existing symbol definition

I have saved my progress as Appropriately evil mask.ai. Now what we are going to do in this exercise, we are going to take his guy who's been rendered out this central mask and we are going to use him to replace the previous symbol definition so that all the other instances update to match. So to do that I'm going to bring up my Symbols panel and I am going to scroll down, so I can see the Tiki Idol symbol right there. Now I'm going to drag this guy into the Symbols panel, like so. So we are dragging him from the illustration window into the Symbols panel.

In Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Advanced, author and industry expert Deke McClelland teaches how to take advantage of the wide array of dynamic features in Illustrator CS5. This course demonstrates how to apply these features to paths, groups, and editable text to create professional-quality artwork. The course covers Live Trace, Live Paint, and Live Color, as well as symbols, gradients, exporting, and integration with Photoshop. Exercise files accompany the course.

Updating an existing symbol definition

I have saved my progress as Appropriately evil mask.ai.Now what we are going to do in this exercise, we are going to take his guy who'sbeen rendered out this central mask and we are going to use him to replace theprevious symbol definition so that all the other instances update to match.So to do that I'm going to bring up my Symbols panel and I am going to scrolldown, so I can see the Tiki Idol symbol right there.Now I'm going to drag this guy into the Symbols panel, like so.So we are dragging him from the illustration window into the Symbols panel.

If I were to release right now even though I am dead on, I am releasing right onthat Tiki Idol symbol.If I were to do so, however, I would create a new symbol.So I would get to Symbol Options dialog box and then I would type something likeNew tiki and click OK and he would appear next door.So I would have the old Tiki Idol and the next door I have got New tiki.And that didn't update anybody, because the instances are still linked to Tiki Idol.Now of course you know you can replace the other instances with this new symbolif you wanted to by selecting them and the easiest way to select them at thispoint would be to go to the Select menu and choose the Inverse command or pressCtrl+Shift+I Command+Shift+I if you loaded Deke keys.

That will go ahead and select all the instances instead of him.Then you would go up to the Replace menu.You would click on it and you would choose New tiki.Then you go ahead and replace all those guys with that big huge tiki head.That's one way to work.But let's say instead we want a cleaner experience.We just want to replace the old symbol with this new one.I am going to back up several steps by pressing Ctrl+Z Command+Z on the Macseveral times, three times in a row in fact until I regain this original guy.So he's no longer an instance and if I scroll down the list I can see that Ihave got Tiki Idol, but I don't have New tiki.

Here is what you do.You grab this guy once again, you drag him out of the illustration window, youhover your cursor over this symbol that you want to replace inside the Symbolspanel and you press and hold the Alt key or the Option key on the Mac.That'll give you a heavy outline around that symbol.Then go ahead and release your mouse button.That's going to update all of the other instances and convert the original guythere, the central guy into an instance as well.Now the big problem of course is all of these of other tikis are way too big.So let's hide the Symbols panel for a moment so that we have a little more room to work.

I'm going to go right back to that menu again, to the Select menu and I'm goingto choose the Inverse command, Ctrl+Shift+I Command+Shift+I if you loaded Dekethe keys that will select all the two giants tiki masks.Then because I want to scale them independently of each other that is not withrespect to a single origin point, but rather with respect to multiple origins.I will go up to the Object menu, choose Transform and choose Transform Each oryou can mesh your fist and press the D key that's Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Dcommand+Shift+Option+D on the Mac.

Once this dialog box comes up onscreen, we don't want these values, make surePreviews turned on just so you can see what you are doing.Let's go ahead and change Horizontal to 50% and then I will Tab to the Verticalvalue and change it to 50% as well.You will notice by the way those of you who recall working with the Transformeffect a few exercises back when we are talking about advanced type.This is the same exact dialog box that you're presented with when you applythe Transform effect.It's just that here we are applying a static transformation instead.

Now I will go ahead and click the OK button in order to apply my change.So there you have it, that's how you take an object a collection ofpath outlines and use it to replace an existing symbol definition hereinside Illustrator.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
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